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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Past GT essay - There is too much stress in the workplace. What can employees and employers do about it?

Stress is a big problem in today’s workplace. While some stress is a normal part of the workplace, excessive stress can interfere with the employees’ productivity and reduce their physical and emotional health. This essay shall delve into some causes of workplace stress and also suggest some steps that employers and employees can take to reduce it.

There are a plethora of causes of stress in the workplace. To begin with, excessively high workloads, with unrealistic deadlines making people feel pressurized. Similarly, insufficient workloads, making people feel that their skills are being underused may cause stress. Then there may be a lack of interpersonal support or poor working relationships leading to a sense of isolation. Moreover, there may be times when people are asked to do a job for which they have insufficient experience or training.

Furthermore, stress can be caused by lack of job security, lack of career opportunities, or level of pay. It may also be caused by bullying or harassment by management, which can leave employees feeling undervalued and affect their self-esteem. Last but not least a poor physical working environment such as excessive heat, cold or noise, inadequate lighting, uncomfortable seating and malfunctioning equipment may also lead to stress.

Employers can take a lot of steps to cope with workplace-stress. To begin with, they should diagnose what is causing stress. If overwork is causing stress in the business, then they should try to reduce people's workload. They should ensure that their employees' targets are challenging, but realistic, and make sure that employees take their full holiday entitlement. They should check that individuals are well-matched to the jobs they've got. If any of the employees is sick, they should keep in touch. If their employee has experienced personal problems, such as a relationship break-up or an illness in the family, employers should take a sympathetic approach and if necessary, enable and encourage the employee to seek further help through their doctor or a counseling service.

The employees can also take some steps to reduce their stress. They should take frequent breaks and relax. They should realize that the opposite of stress is relaxation and should avoid working in coffee and lunch breaks. Listening to music while driving to work also helps to reduce stress. A little exercise every day is a good stress buster. At the day’s end, they should leave work behind and focus on plans for the evening. One should work to live and not live to work.

To sum up, I pen down saying that, stress at the workplace is an issue of great concern. However, employees and employers can take steps to reduce it.